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Chapter 23: Labor Pains

Penulis: Evve
last update Tanggal publikasi: 2025-12-22 16:40:32

Elias Ward’s card sat on the wobbly table for three days.

It was a thick, cream-colored rectangle of heavy cardstock, a stark, elegant contrast to the cheap, peeling veneer of her attic room. It was a lifeline she was too terrified to grasp.

He saw her. He had looked past the black dye, the cheap coat, and the haunted eyes, and he had seen the design. He had seen the fear.

To call him was to step out of the shadows. It was to admit she was more than "Ariane Rousseau," the plongeuse. It was a ri
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  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 370: THE SECOND WAIT

    The second wait wasn't a pause. It was a siege.The first time, fourteen days had felt like a long, boring stretch of highway. This time, every hour was a minefield. Every twinge in her abdomen was a potential explosion. Every trip to the bathroom was a reconnaissance mission to check for blood.Aurora sat in her office at Vale-Cross Global. It was Day 4.She was reviewing the foundation specs for the Bronx housing project, but her eyes kept drifting to the calendar on her tablet. Ten days left."Aurora?"Claire stood in the doorway. She held a stack of fabric swatches for the lobby."The indigo or the charcoal?" Claire asked. "Marcus says charcoal is more durable. I say indigo has more soul.""Indigo," Aurora said automatically. Then she stopped. She looked at the swatches. "Wait. Let me see."She forced herself to focus. She forced her brain to engage with textures and weave counts, pushing the biological countdown into the background."Charcoal," she corrected. "Marcus is right. It

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 369: SECOND ROUND

    The map of their desperation was drawn in purple and yellow ink across Aurora’s abdomen.Liam uncapped the syringe. The needle seemed larger this time. Sharper. Or maybe his eyes were just tired of looking at it.Aurora sat on the edge of the bathtub, her pajama top hiked up. She didn't look at the needle. She looked at the tile floor, her jaw set in a line of grim endurance that reminded him of the day she testified in court."Ready?" Liam asked. His voice was a low rumble in the quiet bathroom."Do it," she said.He pinched an inch of skin near her hip. There wasn't much clear space left. The bruising from the first round had barely faded before they started the second. Dr. Rosenberg had increased the dosage—Menopur, Gonal-F, a cocktail of hormones designed to force nature’s hand.Liam pushed the needle in.Aurora didn't flinch. She just exhaled, a long, shuddering breath that rattled in her chest."I'm sorry," Liam whispered. He hated this part. He hated being the one to inflict th

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 368: TO TRY AGAIN?

    The tissue box on Dr. Chen’s side table was full. A fresh box. Untouched.Aurora stared at it. A week ago, she would have decimated it. A week ago, the grief of the negative test had been a physical blow, knocking the wind out of her lungs in a gray parking lot.Today, the grief was still there, but it had changed states. It was no longer a liquid flood. It was a solid weight, sitting in her lap like a heavy stone."You're quiet today," Dr. Chen observed.Aurora looked up. She was sitting on the moss-green sofa, her legs crossed, her posture perfect. She was wearing her CEO armor again—a silk blouse, tailored trousers—because after this, she had a budget meeting."I'm thinking," Aurora said."About the test?""About the math," Aurora corrected. "Dr. Rosenberg said fifteen percent. We took the shot. We missed. Statistically, it was the expected outcome.""And emotionally?" Dr. Chen asked. "Was it the expected outcome?""No," Aurora admitted. She twisted the iron ring on her finger. "Em

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 367: NEGATIVE

    The room didn't change when Dr. Rosenberg walked in. The walls remained beige. The air conditioner continued its low, indifferent hum. The framed photos of babies on the desk didn't turn away in shame.But the air pressure dropped. It fell so fast Aurora’s ears popped.She knew before he sat down. She knew by the way he held the file—closed, tight against his chest, like a shield. She knew by the way he didn't meet her eyes immediately."I'm sorry," Dr. Rosenberg said.Two words.They were small words. Common words. People used them when they bumped into someone on the subway or spilled coffee.But in this room, they were an execution."No," Liam whispered beside her. His hand clamped around hers, squeezing so hard she felt her ring dig into bone."The beta HCG level is less than 0.1," Dr. Rosenberg said gently. "It’s negative, Aurora. Neither embryo implanted."Neither.Two sparks. Two flashes of light on the ultrasound screen. Two potential lives—maybe a boy, maybe a girl, maybe the

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 366: THE WAIT

    The universe, Liam decided, did not run on physics. It ran on waiting.Time had become elastic. A minute in a board meeting lasted sixty seconds. A minute in the penthouse, watching Aurora stare at the calendar, lasted a decade.It was Day 4 post-transfer.Liam stood in the kitchen, making school lunches. Peanut butter and jelly for River (crusts off). Turkey and swiss for Ethan (crusts on). A bento box of fruit and cheese for Hope (toddler chaos).He was moving on autopilot. His hands knew the rhythm, but his mind was upstairs in the master bedroom.Aurora was "resting." That was the official term. In reality, she was vibrating with a frequency of anxiety so high it could probably shatter glass."Dad?" Ethan asked. He was sitting at the island, finishing his cereal. "Is Mom sick again?"Liam paused, the knife hovering over the bread. He looked at his son. Nine years old. Too smart for his own good."No," Liam said. "She's just... incubating. Remember? The science project.""The embry

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 365: IVF BEGINS

    The needle was thin. A hair of steel.Aurora sat on the closed lid of the toilet in the master bathroom. Her pajama top was pulled up, exposing her stomach. The skin was pale, marked only by the faint, silver line of her C-section scar—the map of the last time she had done this."Ready?" Liam asked.He was kneeling on the bathmat. He held the syringe with the precision of a man defusing a bomb. He had watched the instructional videos three times. He had practiced on an orange."Ready," Aurora said. She gripped the edge of the seat.She wasn't afraid of the pain. She was afraid of the hope.Liam pinched an inch of skin near her navel. He didn't hesitate. He pushed the plunger.A sharp sting. A burn as the Follistim entered the tissue."Done," Liam whispered.He withdrew the needle. He pressed a cotton ball to the tiny red dot of blood. He kissed her forehead."One down," he said.Aurora let out a breath. "Ten days to go."She looked at the sharps container on the counter. It was empty

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 192: The Collaborative Collection Launch

    The Grand Palais in Paris was a cathedral of glass and steel, a fitting temple for the resurrection of two empires. Tonight, it was the stage for "The Alliance." The air inside was cold, conditioned to protect the couture, but the energy was white-hot. Two thousand guests—the global elite of fas

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-31

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 196: The Morning After

    The "Happy Family" was put to the test by a leaky faucet. It was 6 AM on a Monday. The penthouse was quiet, save for the rhythmic drip, drip, drip coming from the kitchen sink. Aurora stood in the doorway, wrapped in her robe, staring at the puddle forming on the marble floor. "It's a metaphor,

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-31

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 189: The Apology

    The morning rain had cleared, leaving the New York sky a brilliant, scrubbed-clean blue.Liam and Aurora sat on the terrace of the penthouse, drinking coffee. It was Sunday. No work. No school. Just the quiet hum of the city below and the sound of Ethan watching cartoons inside.They were happy. It

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-31

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 181: The Arrest

    The interrogation room at the 20th Precinct was not a place for billionaires. It was a box of gray cinder blocks, fluorescent lights, and a two-way mirror that reflected nothing but exhaustion.Aurora sat at a metal table. She was still wearing her blood-stained white suit from the "wolf" days, tho

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-30
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